Social Network Effects on Travel Agency Employees’ Occupational Outcomes : Innovation Behavior as a Mediator

Purpose - The current study aims to examine the effect of social network factors on travel agency employees’ occupational outcomes such as job performance and job satisfaction through innovation behavior in a comprehensive model. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on a theory of social network, the concept of social network was assessed by three factors: a) network size, b) network range, and c) tie strength. To test the proposed hypotheses, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed based on data from 197 travel agency employees in Korea. Result - The results showed that the associational activity of network size had a positive effect on innovation behavior, while the network range of network size had a significant negative effect on innovation behavior. Subsequently, innovation behavior positively influenced on job performance and job satisfaction, respectively. Conclusions - The results offer some insights into the extended model and have important managerial implications for Korean travel agencies. More specifically, considering diverse domains of social network and organizational research, this study advances critical utility of social network factors in a high facilitating level of innovation behavior, which can help travel agency employees promote their job performance and job satisfaction.